The list of SEC victors against the celebrated Alabama coach dwindled this week with the sudden exit of Hugh Freeze, who was ousted at MS on Thursday after school officials cited "a pattern of personal misconduct", including a call to a number linked to an escort service. Because the call lasted less than one minute and did not appear at the time to be part of a pattern, we initially attributed this call to a misdialed number. "We proactively looked into the rest of his phone records". Fallout from the NCAA investigation was the only way most people would have envisioned Freeze leaving the University, but after phone records and an internal investigation uncovered calls to an escort service, the University couldn't stand behind its coach any longer.

Bjork said that had Freeze not resigned, the university would have exercised the moral turpitude clause in his contract and fired him, and that no settlement or buyout was involved in his departure. "He's a leader", Bjork said. "There will be a lot of time to conduct a search for a permanent head coach".

Assistant Matt Luke has been named the interim coach with defensive coordinator Wesley McGriff being named the associate head coach.

"Everybody from the Ole Miss family is very disappointed", said Central MS Rebel Club past president Eddie Maloney. During his tenure, Freeze compiled a 39-25 mark with a winning percentage of.609, a 12-16 record vs the AP Top 25 and four bowl game appearances.

"Earlier this month, as is reported in response to a public record request, we release coach Freeze's work-related phone records for six days in January of 2016", Bjork said.

While the MS native was a resounding success on the field during his tenure, winning almost 60 percent of his games and reaching a Sugar Bowl, off the field the program had become the subject of an NCAA investigation and Freeze's own personal conduct ultimately ended up costing him his job. The suit was filed just as Freeze and Ole Miss were set to take the stage at the 2017 SEC Media Days. McAnally, an Oxford native, says it hasn't changed how he feels about Freeze.

Matt Luke will lead the Ole Miss Rebels on an interim basis this fall.

This is a conversation I've had a couple of times since Freeze was hired before the 2012 season.

Nutt's lawsuit alleges that Freeze and Bjork promoted a false storyline that suggested that most of the ongoing case of NCAA infractions involved violations that occurred under Nutt.

Tuberville took over at Ole Miss before the 1995 season, after the program was hit by NCAA sanction that included a loss of 24 scholarships, a two-year bowl ban and a one-year live TV ban. He was the one Freeze replaced as head coach of the Rebels in 2012.

The Rebels have yet to lose a recruit from their class of 2018 group, and their lone 4-star class of 2018 recruit, wide receiver Demarcus Gregory (Duncan, S.C.), told ESPN he's not holding any recruitment meetings at the moment.